Lion

So remember earlier this year when I was watching all the movies that were Best Picture Contenders. Up until now, I had seen 5 of the 9 films that were nominated. Until now I was convinced that the real competition was between Moonlight and La La Land and maybe Hacksaw Ridge. But now... I still think that cause this movie was a little boring.

Lion centers on the story of a young boy named Saroo (at the beginning of the film he is played by Sunny Pawar, when he grows up he is played by Dev Patal). Saroo lives in a small village in India with his mother (played by Priyanka Bose), his brother Guddu (played by Abhishek Bharate), and his little sister.

One day Saroo sees his brother heading out to get some work and he wants to go with him. His brother protests but eventually lets Saroo tag along.

They take a short train ride to the city but Saroo is tired and he falls asleep at the train station. When he wakes up, his brother is gone. He goes looking for him in a stationary train but soon falls asleep again.

When he wakes up, the train is moving and Saroo has no idea where he is. This is really all in the first 10 minutes of the movie and it is very heartbreaking. You see this kid confused and scared and he rides this train for miles. He gets so lost and he has absolutely no bearings on where he is or how to get home.

The first half of this movie takes place in India with his young kid and I have to give almost more credit to Sunny Pawar. He doesn't say much but you can just tell this kid is scared and when things happen to him, he's calculating it all and he just wants to get home.

After a very long first half, he is eventually found and brought to an orphanage and eventually adopted by a nice couple from Australia (played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). Saroo goes to Tasmania and grows up with this great couple. They eventually adopt another kid from India and Saroo grows up to become Dev Patal.

Saroo grows up knowing that he was adopted but doesn't truly know where he's from. He has a girlfriend (played by Rooney Mara) and his relationship with her and his relationship with his family is strained because he time consuming mission to find his mother and his home. The second half is essentially him investigating the path he took, trying to remember where he went and how he can get back home.

This is a long movie. I know it's only about 2 hours and some change so there have been longer, but I remember watching the first half and as much as I think that little kid is adorable, the movie takes FOREVER to get rolling and actually start up. A lot of the movie is this kid walking from place to place, meeting random people in each place.

And then when he grows up the movie is essentially Dev Patal starring at a computer and every once in a while having a little chat with Rooney Mara or Nicole Kidman. Don't get me wrong, there is some pretty good acting in the movie by Patal and by Kidman, and I've already mentioned Sunny Pawar, but like I said, it's a pretty slow movie.

The movie also spends a lot of time showing some things in very intense minute detail and other things are really kind of blown over not giving them the time to develop properly.

An example of this is the relationship between Saroo and his girlfriend Lucy. I'm not totally sure if the relationship begins when these two are on screen for the first time or if it was an already established relationship but one moment they're talking in class, the next moment they're mocking each other while they're walking down the street, and the next scene they're having sex.

The relationship is probably a real relationship that occurred in the true story that this movie is based off and in that case I guess it's okay that she's in the movie but I guess I totally didn't get her role in the larger scheme of the story.

On a side note, I have not actually seen Rooney Mara in a lot of movies. I have seen previews of movies with her like Pan and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I don't think I've actually seen her very much. She's beautiful but she actually is a pretty plain looking person. She has a very indistinctive face. Again, still beautiful but a little indistinctive. She also is a pretty good actress so it's not the worst seeing her in this film, but like I said, she's really not the focus of the movie.

I suppose perhaps that she's supposed to be a representation of white privilege and how she doesn't totally understand the struggle that Saroo is going through. They sort of make mention of that but it's not really delved into beyond one scene.

The main draw of this movie is the relationship Saroo has with his adoptive parents and the struggle he has with trying to look into who he really is and not wanting them to feel like he's abandoning them.

That is a very personal and legitimate struggle and I did really like it. Nicole Kidman nails this performance and it really is powerful.

However, I just feel like this movie is paced very strangely and in the full reality of things, not a lot happens. If you watched the Screen Junkies Honest trailer, they call this movie "If you Say you've seen this, you're probably Lyin". And I get it. This is not a movie a lot of people are going to like and it has very much an Indie feel to it. The music is great and serene and it kind of makes me want to look into getting the soundtrack. But I understand why this movie didn't win Best Picture. While best picture movies always have a little bit of an indie edge to them, they never seem to have THIS MUCH of that edge.

Lion is a well made, well acted film. It's just very, VERY slow. If you're someone who likes to watch Oscar nominated movies, you'll probably enjoy this one. I also think that if you have two hours and have a lot of caffeine in your body this movie might actually be enjoyable. But I wouldn't say it's absolutely a film you need to check out from 2016. It's not going to be for everyone.

But what about you? Have you seen Lion? What did you think about it? Where did it rank in your list of the best movies of 2016? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. So this is not even closely related. However, it is a film that I am actually kind of looking forward to and it is a new trailer. I don't want to do a full review on it, but I do want to say, I'm not a person who usually watched scary movies, but this movie actually looks pretty sick. I'm hoping that I'll get up the nerve to watch it though. Here is the new trailer for IT. Enjoy!